


Lightning Round

by Engineer104



Series: (Un)reliable with the Ladies [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Pining, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-19 13:08:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11898387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Engineer104/pseuds/Engineer104
Summary: For 'Lance Loves Ladies' Week, Day 6:  Pining / FluffLance, Pidge, and teamwork





	Lightning Round

**Author's Note:**

> So as it turns out I can't write straight-up pining; there has to be something else in there so it ended up being a training exercise lmao. Does it still follow the prompt?? Don't know

At seventeen years of age, Lance had long since lost count of how many crushes he had.

For Lance, a crush was a fleeting thing, a brief attraction that lived in the moment, or, really, for however long he knew the person that captured his attention. And after that, well, out of sight, out of mind.

But Lance had never earned the misfortune of crushing on a friend before.

Maybe it was the isolation, seeing only six other people regularly. Maybe the frigid recycled air of the ship was getting to his head (or heart). Maybe it was his brain (or, again, heart) seeking a distraction from a war that seemed neverending.

Or maybe it was just Pidge.

"Why does she do that?" Lance asked Hunk one day during a much needed break from combat training. He could see Pidge out of the corner of his eye, leaning against the wall and sitting cross-legged, one hand on her ankle while the other clutched a water pouch.

"Do what?" Hunk said, following Lance's gaze. He raised an eyebrow and turned back to him.

"I don't know," said Lance, waving towards Pidge, who pouted at him when she noticed. He flushed and put his back to her. "Just... _that_."

"Uh..." said Hunk. "Again, what's _that_?"

"Just... _everything_!" Lance exclaimed, gesturing. "Why does she blow her hair out of her face when she's frustrated, or smirk when she's just been proven right, or ramble when she's caught off-guard, or go all starry-eyed for tech, or give us all grief for being idiots, or--"

"Whoa, whoa!" Hunk interrupted, frowning. "Who are you calling an idiot?"

Lance sighed. "Me. I'm an idiot. Do you want to know why?"

"I can't believe you'd admit to this," said Hunk, smiling. "And all because you like Pidge?"

"She just--wait, what?" Lance glared at Hunk over his own juice pouch as he sipped angrily.

"You like Pidge!" said Hunk, his voice sing-song. "Oh my gosh, it's too cute. I can't wait to tell her!"

"Don't you _dare_!" Lance said, grabbing Hunk's arm. "Let me suffer in silence, thank you very much."

"You're not being silent right now," Hunk pointed out reasonably.

Lance opened his mouth, a smooth retort on the tip of his tongue, but Shiro interrupted to bid them resume training.

"All right," he said, "I'm going to have you pair up for the next exercise: short-range combatant with a long-range fighter."

Uh oh, Lance knew exactly what was coming.

"Princess, do you want to explain the game?" Shiro called up to the control booth.

Allura's voice came over the intercom. "It's simple," she said.

Lance snorted; Altean combat games were never _simple_.

"This one is called 'Save the Gladiator'," Allura explained. "Two of you will attempt to 'save' the gladiator from the other two. But there _is_ an obstacle course, at the center of which is the gladiator, and you will be under fire the entire time. Cover your partner, and once you have the gladiator you will have to escape the maze without it taking damage or the other team recovering it. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Princess," they all chorused.

Lance glanced at Pidge, who was looking at him with a bemused smile on her face, then darted his eyes towards Keith; both of them were short-range fighters, which meant...

"Lance," said Shiro, jerking him from his thoughts. "You're partnered with Pidge. Hunk, you're with Keith."

Lance slumped while Hunk snickered at him. What a friend he was.

"Lance and Pidge have fifteen doboshes to rescue the gladiator from Hunk and Keith," Allura said from the booth.

"Only fifteen?!" Lance said, alarmed.

"Scared we'll beat you, Lance?" Keith asked with a smirk.

"Oh, no," Lance said quickly, recovering his usual bravado, "I'm scared it'll be too easy for us!"

To his relief and glee, Pidge was quick to take his side. "Don't worry, Keith," she said, summoning her bayard. "We'll go easy on you."

"Ooh," said Hunk.

"Hunk, whose side are you on?" Keith demanded.

"Voltron's," said Hunk, grinning sheepishly.

"All right, enough trash talk," Shiro interrupted as the gladiator appeared in the center of the training deck. "Keith and Hunk, take your positions." When they retreated towards the center where the gladiator stood, looking very much like a trussed up damsel in distress, Shiro turned to Lance and Pidge. "You'll be starting at the edge of the maze."

"Because that went _so well_ last time," Pidge said, shooting a look at Lance.

"Keith gave me bad directions!"

"No I didn't!"

"The maze will be visible," Allura quickly interrupted before the argument could escalate. "No one will be guiding you through it, so the walls being invisible would defeat the purpose of the exercise."

"Oh, good," said Lance, relieved.

Once everyone was in position, the maze went up. "You think the walls still shock?" Lance asked Pidge.

"Only one way to find out," she said.

"All right, begin!" called Allura.

"How do you want to do this?" Pidge wondered once they were inside the maze. They both had their shields up in preparation for the drones that would doubtlessly shoot at them once they drew closer to the center.

"What do you mean?"

They continued walking until they reached the first fork. "Can we check for dead ends and obstacles with your bayard?"

Lance shifted his grip on his rifle a bit, then shot the wall. He frowned as the wall absorbed the blast with scarcely a ripple of energy. "No," he said.

"Hmm," said Pidge. "Let's split up."

"Uh, let's _not_ ," Lance said. "There's a reason Shiro mixed us up the way he did."

A drone fired a shot from above and Lance put up his shield to cover both of them, Pidge huddling closer. "Okay," he said, grumbling. He shot the drone down easily as Pidge led them down a path at random.

"Fine," she said. "We won't split up." She raised the cuff of her armor and keyed in the maze. "But we need to keep track of where we're going in case we hit a dead end."

"Oh, good," quipped Lance, "I knew there was a reason I'd rather be stuck with you than with Keith."

" _Stuck_?" Pidge said, sounding offended. She put her shield at the appearance of another drone, which Lance promptly demolished with a single rifle blast.

"That came out wrong," Lance admitted.

Pidge only shot him an indecipherable look before leading him down another turn. When it proved to be a dead end, they doubled back on their path, Pidge making a note on her cuff's map, but not before attracting the attention of _several_ drones.

One got Pidge in the shoulder. She gasped, clutching it, while Lance dove in to cover her. "Are you okay?" he asked once he took care of the drones.

"Fine," she said. "This armor is...it's good."

"Please, those drones aren't meant to hurt us," Lance scoffed.

"Then why bother asking me if I'm _okay_ , genius?" Pidge demanded. She grabbed his arm and they continued down the path.

"Twelve doboshes remaining!" Allura called.

Lance groaned. "Great."

"We have time," Pidge reassured him. When they got to the fork that initially messed them up, they went the other way. At the next corner, they turned inside.

"We should be approaching the center," Pidge reasoned when they were attacked by another hoard of drones.

"We haven't seen Hunk or Keith yet," Lance pointed out.

"They might be guarding the gladiator more closely," said Pidge. "It depends on what sort of strategy they've taken. But knowing Keith...and Hunk..." She trailed off and, for some reason, smirked. "This will be too easy."

"Explain," Lance said as they rounded another corner and chose another fork.

"Simple," said Pidge. "Keith is brash, he'll attack to head us off without considering he's supposed to the gladiator. And Hunk may be reasonable, but he's not forceful enough to convince Keith to be patient."

Lance covered her from drone attack as she recorded their progress on her map. Meanwhile, Allura warned them they were down to eight doboshes.

"We'll probably have to worry more about Hunk's blaster," Pidge added.

"Makes sense," said Lance.

"So who do you want to handle?" Pidge asked with a smirk.

"If you're right, then we can both take each of them down," said Lance, returning her smile.

Her grin widened, and Lance's heart fluttered. Why was he so suddenly?

"Got it," said Pidge. "I can trip them up with my bayard."

They had to double back from dead ends a couple more times, dodging drone fire the entire way and each taking a few painful - though not damaging - hits. Finally, the nature of the blasts changed, and sure enough Pidge could see Hunk firing at them from a distance.

"Think you can stun him from here?" Pidge asked Lance as Allura warned there were only five doboshes left.

"Yeah," said Lance, hefting his rifle and sighting down the barrel at Hunk. "But where's Keith?"

Pidge moved quickly, standing with her back to Lance's and putting up her shield. Out of the corner of his eye Lance saw her shoot the grapple on her bayard, right as a sword hilt collided with his shoulder, knocking him into Pidge.

"Okay, we screwed up," Pidge conceded from beneath him.

Lance stared up at Keith, who smiled smugly down at him. "No, no, we can still win," he said.

"Can you?" said Keith. He positioned himself between them and Hunk.

Then something occurred to Lance.

"Hey, Pidge," he said, quietly enough that he thought Keith wouldn't hear.

"What?" she said.

"We're not at the center of the maze."

Pidge stared at him, eyes wide with alarm, as she checked her map. "Oh," she said.

"Oh," Lance agreed.

"Three doboshes!" yelled Allura.

Drones attacked indiscriminately from above, forcing Keith to dodge and shield as well, which ended up being their saving grace.

"If Hunk is over there and Keith is over here," Lance said to Pidge as they took cover, "then that means the gladiator is unguarded!"

"We can still salvage this!" Pidge agreed. She grabbed Lance by the hand, tugging him in the opposite direction.

"HEY!" Keith yelled from behind them.

"Ha, suck it, Keith!" Lance called from over his shoulder. The momentary lapse in attention cost him a hit to the knee though. "Ow," he mumbled.

Pidge snickered.

Finally, they spotted the gladiator tied up in a corner. "It's likely that Hunk can make it around from the other direction," said Pidge. "Cover me." She darted forward, but Lance held her back.

"I know we're almost out of time, but we still need to be a little more cautious."

"Ideas?"

"Hmm." Lance considered. "Use your grappling hook."

"It'll still be vulnerable to drone fire."

Lance looked up, his rifle following his line of sight. "Let me worry about that."

Pidge shot her grapple towards the gladiator. The line looped around its legs, and Pidge retracted it, pulling the robot in. As if the act had attracted them, several drones appeared and Lance started shooting them down, until he noticed a few shifting their attention.

Sure enough, there was Hunk at the other end.

"Two doboshes!"

"Ah, shoot," Lance hissed. He and Hunk were both forced to fight off drones, but by then Pidge had grabbed the gladiator.

"I'll carry it and guide us," she said. "You cover."

"Got it," Lance agreed, following her back the way they came.

Keith was waiting for them at the fork, his shield up to protect himself from Lance's fire. And Lance heard footsteps behind him, signaling Hunk's arrival.

"Guess we're doing it this way," Pidge said. She handed the gladiator off to Lance before he could say anything, then shot her grapple towards Keith. He leaped back from it, but unable to avoid it, it tangled in his legs, tugging him down.

"Agh!" he yelled, trying to disentangle himself.

Pidge tugged him towards them while Lance covered her, his shield angled towards Hunk, who still approached. A drone got him in the shoulder , but at this point he didn't even flinch.

Keith still struggled against Pidge's grapple line, but then Pidge said, "Trade!"

"What?" Lance said, momentarily stunned as Pidge handed him her bayard and took the gladiator back from him. She activated her shield.

Keith managed to make it to his feet, but Lance understood what Pidge wanted. He pulled Keith closer, then, straining his muscles, he spun him around and swung him into Hunk.

They went down in a pile, the drones focusing on two weaker targets and giving Lance and Pidge a break.

"Ha!" Lance said. "In your faces!"

"Escape now, boast later!" said Pidge, swapping the gladiator for her bayard again.

"Right," said Lance, right as Allura warned, "One dobosh!"

They still had to dodge the drones on their way out, but with Pidge's guidance and Lance shielding, they escaped the maze with tics to spare.

Lance dropped the gladiator and fell over, exhausted, his arms sore. Pidge took off her helmet and collapsed next to him, her forehead resting on the cooler floor.

"Time is up!" Allura said, lowering the maze's walls.

Lance watched idly as Keith and Hunk lowered their shields and dismissed their bayards, slumping dejectedly on the ground.

Shiro approached them, kneeling to be closer to their level. "Well done," he said, helping first Pidge and then Lance into sitting positions.

Pidge leaned into Lance, resting her head on his shoulder, her sweaty hair tickling his face. He smiled, and though it was a bit of an effort on his part to remain upright, he managed to reach up and ruffle her hair.

Shiro and the princess both debriefed them on their efforts - what they did well, what they could still work on - over a hearty dinner of green goo. Lance hardly paid attention, too tired and sore and hungry.

And too _aware_.

Pidge sat between him and Hunk, who kept shooting a snide smile in Lance's direction (in contrast to Keith, who was still put-out by their loss earlier). She had her chin propped on her hand as she listened to Shiro and Allura, a glassy look in her eyes.

When they finished, almost everyone made their way to the common room, intent on some relaxation before bed.

"Better luck next time, Keith," said Lance, smirking.

Keith rolled his eyes but didn't bother retorting, keeping his attention focused on whatever he was reading.

Hunk had busied himself with an Altean puzzle of some kind, a bunch of interlocking pieces he was supposed to disentangle. Shiro, Allura, and Coran were in the corner, talking like the adults they were. Pidge was the only one missing.

Lance, bored, decided to find her.

He tried her room first, but was unsurprised when she didn't answer. Then he made his way to the Green Lion's hangar, her most frequent haunt.

"Pidge?" he called. "You in here?"

Lance smiled when he spotted her, resting at her desk with her head pillowed on her arms. He approached and knelt next to her. "Hey," he whispered, "you gonna spend the night here?"

She jerked up, startled, her hand shooting out and clocking him in the throat.

"Ow!" he said, rubbing his neck. "Is that any way to treat your training partner?"

Pidge blushed. "Sorry, Lance," she said. Then she narrowed her eyes. "You were the one who woke me up."

"Because your desk doesn't make a good bed," he pointed out. "Come on, I'll walk you to your room."

"No, I have a lot of work to do." She rubbed her eyes, nodding towards the open holoscreens displaying a mixture of Altean and Galra text.

"Uh, yeah, you've done plenty today already," Lance said, grabbing Pidge's hand.

To his surprise - and pleasure - she didn't snatch it away. Instead, she huffed and stood. "Fine," she said. "Lead the way."

"You're going to come right back after I leave you, won't you?"

Pidge glared at him, then sighed. "I hate you," she said, allowing him to lead her away from the Green Lion and out of the hangar.

"No, you don't," Lance said, laughing.

"You're right, I don't."

It was scarcely a declaration of love, but the admission nevertheless brought heat to his cheeks.

"Ah, look how far we've come," Lance teased, smiling down at her. "A year ago you resisted my friendship and avoided me and Hunk outside of the simulator, and now here we are."

Pidge yawned, but Lance thought she smiled behind the hand that hid her mouth. "You could say our relationship has progressed by lightyears," she joked.

Lance laughed, his chest warm. He turned and wrapped Pidge in his arms, his chin nestled in her hair.

She stiffened, but before he could step away, she returned his embrace, her arms around his back, her forehead pressed into his collar. "You're a good friend, Lance," she said. "I don't...I don't deserve you."

"Sure you do, Pidge," he said, rubbing her back. Something in her tone broke his heart, and he needed to reassure her.

Pidge shook her head but didn't argue. Lance thought, _Now, this is the time, tell her what she means to you and that_ you _don't deserve_ her.

"Pidge, I--"

"Lance, Pidge!"

Pidge turned her head but didn't move away from Lance. There was Hunk, standing in the entrance of the Green Lion's hangar.

Lance glared at him over Pidge's head, and Hunk floundered a bit, looking sheepish. "Coran made this strange Altean dessert," he said quickly and apologetically, "and he and the princess insisted we try it."

"Okay," said Pidge. She shrugged and withdrew from Lance's arms, and he instantly missed her warmth. They followed Hunk back to the common room, and Lance glanced at Pidge from the corner of his eye.

"Later," he promised her.

"Later what?" she said, confused.

Lance shrugged and grinned. "We can figure that out, you and I."

She rolled her eyes, but the smile she flashed him was everything.

**Author's Note:**

> Me: How realistic are the physics of this especially considering the characters' strength?  
> Also me: It's fan fiction I can do what I want!
> 
> Also I'm not sure if you caught that I totally ripped off the 'Save the Citizen' game from _Sky High_...though i did add the twist of the maze
> 
> This has also been a thesis on how/why Lance isn't an idiot. Thank you for your time


End file.
